Thursday, 14 May 2009

Anyone can write a 500 - 800 word blog posting (article) and submit it to an Article Directory.

But a badly written article can cause you and your reputation a lot of damage. You have probably read some badly written articles.

How does that make you feel?

It doesn't inspire you to take further action, visit the persons website, does it?

A badly written article may even drive people away from your blog / website rather than drive people towards it.

You want your article to be read and you want the reader to think, "I like this person, they know what they are talking about. I wonder what else they have to say". And the next thing they do is click on the link to your site.Writing a blog post or article can be scary, especially when you think thousands of individuals may read it. But the best thing to do is to break down the actual writing of the article like so:

1. The Headline

2. The Introduction

3. The Main Body

4. The Conclusion / Summary

5. Your Resource Box

Tackling each of the 5 parts in turn will make the actual writing of the article much easier and after just a little practice, you'll be writing great articles in no time.

So let's start with:

1. The Headline

This is the first and most crucial step.

Why?

Because if your headline doesn't capture the visitors attention, then the rest of the article will just be ignored.

Your article content may be the most thrilling, exciting information ever, but if your headline sucks and doesn't grab the readers attention, all your efforts are wasted.

Powerful tip:

Want to know where to get great inspiration for headlines?

Magazines. Look at the front cover of all those magazines. Don't some of them make you pick the magazine up and start reading inside?

That's what you want to happen with your headline. The reader can't wait to read the rest of the article.

As well as studying magazine headlines, here are some excellent phrases which will help you get started:

"Get Rid of … Once and for All"

"Get Rid Of Your Panic Attacks Once And For All With These Simple Ideas"

"Get Rid Of Writers Block By Simply Using This New Found Technique"

"What Everybody Should Know About …"

"What Everybody Should Know About Bad Breath: 6 Things You Are Doing Wrong"

"What Everybody Should Know About Completing Their Annual Tax Form"

"What Everybody Should Know About Creating a Resume That Gets You The Interview Every Time"

"Here's a Quick Way To …"

"Here's a Quick Way To Write A Blog Posting In 15 Minutes"

"Here's a Quick Way To Improve Your English"

"Here's a Quick Way To Remember Facts And Figures"

Other examples of Headlines include:

"Who Else Wants…"

"Here Is a Method That Is Helping…"

"Now You Can Have …"

So do spend time on your heading. It's the heading that ensures the rest of your article gets read.

Now let's move onto:

2. The Introduction

Your Introduction only needs to be 2-5 sentences.

You simply want to introduce the problem and then just "tell them what you're going to tell them" in the next section, which is the main body of the article.

Powerful Tip: When you submit your article to the Article Directories, a summary will be created and the visitor can 'click here to read more'. Your introduction is often used to create the summary, so make sure the introduction is a summary of what the reader will "discover" by clicking on the 'read more' link.